Looking for a different day?A new NYT Connections puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing 'today's game' while others are playing 'yesterday's'. If you're looking for Tuesday's puzzle instead then click here: NYT Connections hints and answers for Tuesday, July 29 (game #779).Good morning! Let's play Connections, the NYT's clever word game that challenges you to group answers in various categories. It can be tough, so read on if you need Connections hints.What should you do once you've finished? Why, play some more word games of course. I've also got daily Strands hints and answers and Quordle hints and answers articles if you need help for those too, while Marc's Wordle today page covers the original viral word game.SPOILER WARNING: Information about NYT Connections today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.NYT Connections today (game #780) - today's words(Image credit: New York Times)Today's NYT Connections words are…MONORAILVOILAORGANTRIANGLEGROANTRAINABUTVEHICLEMEDIUMBULGECOACHTETRACYCLINEDIRECTDIOXIDEINSTRUMENTGUIDENYT Connections today (game #780) - hint #1 - group hintsWhat are some clues for today's NYT Connections groups?YELLOW: Show them the way GREEN: You’ve got a platformBLUE: Begin with an ancient language PURPLE: Jumbled orchestra Need more clues?We're firmly in spoiler territory now, but read on if you want to know what the four theme answers are for today's NYT Connections puzzles…NYT Connections today (game #780) - hint #2 - group answersWhat are the answers for today's NYT Connections groups?YELLOW: INSTRUCT GREEN: MEANSBLUE: STARTING WITH GREEK NUMERICAL PREFIXES PURPLE: ANAGRAMS OF MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.NYT Connections today (game #780) - the answers(Image credit: New York Times)The answers to today's Connections, game #780, are…YELLOW: INSTRUCT COACH, DIRECT, GUIDE, TRAINGREEN: MEANS INSTRUMENT, MEDIUM, ORGAN, VEHICLEBLUE: STARTING WITH GREEK NUMERICAL PREFIXES DIOXIDE, MONORAIL, TETRACYCLINE, TRIANGLEPURPLE: ANAGRAMS OF MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS ABUT, BULGE, GROAN, VOILAMy rating: HardMy score: 2 mistakesSome days every group could be yellow, today they could all have been purple.I felt very smug for getting STARTING WITH GREEK NUMERICAL PREFIXES – the trigger was seeing nothing else medicinal to connect with TETRACYCLINE, so I figured it had to do with the start of the word.INSTRUCT came next – although initially I did think the connection was transportation, but then I hit the buffers and was left with eight random words and no discernible link between any of them.All I had was that GROAN was an anagram of ORGAN. Then after a couple of mistakes I saw the others. Quite the struggle.Yesterday's NYT Connections answers (Tuesday, July 29, game #779)YELLOW: DISCOUNT DEAL, PROMOTION, SALE, SPECIALGREEN: IRRITATE BUG, NETTLE, RUFFLE, STEAMBLUE: POKER ACTIONS CALL, CHECK, FOLD, RAISEPURPLE: THINGS YOU CAN PUMP BRAKES, FIST, GAS, IRONWhat is NYT Connections?NYT Connections is one of several increasingly popular word games made by the New York Times. It challenges you to find groups of four items that share something in common, and each group has a different difficulty level: green is easy, yellow a little harder, blue often quite tough and purple usually very difficult.On the plus side, you don't technically need to solve the final one, as you'll be able to answer that one by a process of elimination. What's more, you can make up to four mistakes, which gives you a little bit of breathing room.It's a little more involved than something like Wordle, however, and there are plenty of opportunities for the game to trip you up with tricks. For instance, watch out for homophones and other word games that could disguise the answers.It's playable for free via the NYT Games site on desktop or mobile.